Afterlife with Archie: Escape From Riverdale (issues 1-5)by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa was mentioned briefly in my review of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Vol 1as it was created by the same author AND both books exist in the same twisted universe. Where Sabrina dwells in a world governed by dark magic and witches that do Satan's bidding Archie and his friends are living in a different kind of hell on earth. For those familiar with the comic strip featuring Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead you're accustomed to 1950s nostalgia vibes of burgers at the diner and lovelorn glances across the football field. There's that in this iteration and a whole lot more. Aguirre-Sacasa must have tapped into that same dark vein that Stephen King has plumbed for years because Riverdale's residents are being plagued by the walking dead. I'M TALKING ZOMBIES, YA'LL. It all begins with Jughead's dog becoming infected and passing it to him through a bite until it spreads like an epidemic. (Remember the movie 28 Days Later?) Things come to a head at the school dance where of course Betty and Veronica are vying for Archie's attention so they don't immediately get that something is terribly wrong with their ol' pal Jughead. [A/N: I don't remember them being so catty but in this story they're doing anything and everything to catch this boy's attention even if they have to demean themselves to do it. It's actually pretty horrible how they treat each other and how absolutely ridiculous they make themselves. The boy ain't that great, ya know?] Things quickly devolved from there and it's a race against time as they and a few of their classmates try to find a place free of the undead creatures. It ends on a cliffhanger and volume two is in the works to be published next year so now is the time to get a head-start. Zombie and horror fans will delight in this series (as well as CAoS). For me it's a pretty solid 9/10 with a deduction for sexist/misogynistic depiction of female leads.

At the beginning of the epic month of reviews (still going strong!) I talked about the first book in the 5 Worlds series and in a move no one could have predicted I now return with my review of 5 Worlds Book 2: The Cobalt Prince by Alexis & Mark Siegel with illustrations by Boya Sun, Xanthe Bouma, & Matt Rockefeller. If you haven't read that book then I suggest you skip today's review as it's bound to spoil a few plot points. The book picks right back up with the ongoing quest to defeat the Mimic who had overtaken the Cobalt Prince (ruler of the Toki people). We discover that the Toki are in fact the 'Chosen People' and that Oona and Jessa are in fact genetically altered Toki. *gasp* The last book focused primarily on the mythology surrounding the beacons while giving Oona room to discover her hidden strengths/magical abilities. Book 2 meanwhile covers a lot of ground with Oona and Jessa's past while delving further into the real deal between the segregation between the peoples in the different worlds. I really felt like the pace ramped up with this one and it was super interesting which makes it even more frustrating that the next installment doesn't come out until the spring of 2019. *grumbles* 10/10

I've had some conversations with parents who have kids reading this series and they've been telling me how much the kids are liking it and how much they as parents enjoy it also. If you're looking for a common denominator between you and the children in your life and books you can discuss together this is a great choice. :-D

We had a horrible customer service experience with B&N and a cashier who is going to be referred to as “man.” (Edit: Descriptive term! Previously said "old man" but someone said that was an offensive descriptive term, which wasn't my intention.)

We got an email from Barnes & Nobles; the subject said “ALL” manga & graphic novels buy 2 get 3rd free. The key word here is it said “ALL!” So we went and got what we wanted and it wouldn't ring up. The man said the signs only said the deal was for DC & Marvel & Image graphic novels. (The signs did say this.) But since we got the email that said "ALL" I asked to speak to a manager so I could show them the proof and figure out why it wasn’t working.

Man: *talking on radio* Can you come back here, these people still want to "ARGUE" about the manga.

What the heck? Is that something you say when we've shown you proof? Not only was his words rude, his tone of voice and body language was the rudest I've ever experienced at B&N or anywhere.

The manager comes back says that the coupon might be online only and was trying to brush this whole thing off. Barnes & Nobles, shouldn’t your employees know what your deals are? The man was standing around just rolling his eyes and had a "told you so" look on his face.

Me: Considering the email subject says "ALL" B&N and most places are usually the type to honor things like this. My husband and I were ready to say the subject title was bad wording on the company's part, but these two people did not seem to want to help us at all.

I studied the mail further and saw toward the end, it said "all manga buy 2 get 3rd free" and there was another part that said the thing about the DC & Marvel & Image. So the two deals probably could not be mixed, which makes the subject line even more misleading.

I told the man this. We put the graphic novel back and got another manga instead. He rung it up and it worked. Wow, look at that! If they had known what their own deals were, this whole thing could have been fixed in two seconds, but instead the man is calling us a liar and neither seem to care about honoring what the email from their company says. We weren’t even going to complain about the “All” subject line anymore and just buy the manga.

We had two books that are larger than normal manga, but they were manga. They were special editions.

Man: Are you sure this is a manga, it only works with manga...

Me: (Thinking) yeah, it only works with manga and you only know this because I told you and your signs do not tell anyone about this deal!! (I’m really frustrated and I have social anxiety and sensory problems, so I’m almost at my “meltdown” point.)

Me: Yes, they are manga. We're 100% sure.

Man: Well, we'll just see if it works.

He's still scoffing and talking in a rude voice.

Man: Oh, it worked....

He sounded shocked and mad that he was wrong and we were right.

In the rudest voice, he ends this experience with this gem.

Man: Oh, that is still really expensive!

I swear, he is looking at us, judging us for spending money at his store. It doesn't matter if it cost $5 or $500, who says something like that to a paying customer? We just saved around $50. So, he's basically saying "why did you go to so much trouble to save money when the price is still expensive?"

For the record, the price was not expensive to us. We bought 6 books. 2 were free, we had our membership discount, plus a 20% off 1 item coupon. In total there were 15 manga, because of bindups. It is the holiday season; we don't normally buy this much at once. Not that it was the man's business, but this is how we do xmas/gifts for each other. And any gift cards or xmas money goes on books as well.

That man made me almost say forget it and go find the books used and cheaper on Amazon. I even had the "Pretty Woman" scene in my head. I'd walk into B&B with all my Amazon packages and say, "you made a mistake!" I call this a reverse “Pretty Woman” moment because in his head, we must be rich people who waste money on book, so we’re too rich to shop at his store and maybe we should take our business elsewhere.

Oh, and he throws everything into a bag all willy nilly. 6 heavy books, 1 bag. He doesn't bother to put them in neatly. He practically shoves the bag at us and we had to fix the bag and inspect the damage. I was too tired to say anything at this point, so we left. No major damage done, except some scuffed corners.

Here's something I desperately wanted to say at a meeting today but couldn't: Graphic novels =/= Porn. They're a format, just like movies and books. You can find porn graphic novels, yes, but also serious literary graphic novels, fluffy fantasy graphic novels, graphic novels appropriate for young children, etc. etc.

Also, the library (not mine, but it was mentioned in the discussion) that stated it would buy a collection of graphic novels by or starring women was probably able to find many, many titles that fit these requirements that weren't porn.

::siiiigh::

I may have an opportunity to get funding for our pitiful graphic novel collection, but it's been strongly indicated that the focus should be on nonfiction titles. This is why so many of our fiction graphic novels are donations from my own collection - donations don't get the same kind of scrutiny. And even then I'm very careful about what I donate, just in case.

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon was sold to me as being a cute little story about a dog who builds a robot so that he has a friend. I was hoping for something with The Wild Robot vibes but I actually found it to be disturbingly macabre and callous. This is a children's graphic novel and yet it explores some really dark themes (in itself not a problem but this was creepier than most). Did I mention that it was entirely wordless? I'm not certain if it's a gift or a curse that Varon possesses to entirely unnerve me without using a single, solitary word. Without giving the entire plot away (this is a very short book by the way), a dog builds himself a robot friend and the two of them are inseparable...until the robot gets rusty at the beach and the dog abandons him there. Yes, he left his very best friend behind at the beach. The next day the beach is closed for the winter and the entire area is fenced off. (That's one strict town!) So now the robot is left on the beach to rust while the dog tries to make a new friend. There are mishaps on both sides of this relationship as the robot is beset by weather, a group of boaters who partially disassemble him, and eventually a junk collector. The dog keeps making friends with those who either can't or won't stick around and he's back at square one without any friends at all. Like I said this is not sweet bedtime reading. If you're looking for a creepy existential crisis well you've hit the jackpot. If you wanted a cutesy little graphic novel you've made a horrible, horrible mistake. 1/10

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